Sign the Dotted Line
by Create-tion
Summary: Not all of HYDRA was what it seemed. Some people didn't get a choice. What was it like on the other side of that line? What happened to those who were threatened into staying; who weren't given much of a choice? Tess was one of the survivors but that meant living with the guilt. Choosing survival and being forced into HYDRA wasn't exactly her first life goal. Now she's on the run..


There had been a time when being given orders had meant complete compliance. There had been a time when there wasn't a question of right and wrong; you just did. There had been a time when survival had trumped all things. Now, was not that time. Things had changed drastically since the fall of HYDRA. Many of the followers were not dead or in prison…or who knew where in S.H.I.E.L.D. confinement. Some of the members had been killed by their own to keep secrets sealed. Tess had almost been one of those. The night everything had really hit the fan, when Natasha had dumped all the files, she'd been one of the first stuck in the crossfire. Of course, she wasn't innocent, but she sure as hell hadn't expected HYDRA to turn on her. The problem was now having survived the assassination attempt, running and hiding from those who were still HYDRA and very much alive, and running from S.H.I.E.L.D.; Tess had nowhere else to go. She'd found a pretty good nook to stay with her head in the sand for now but it was time to start getting moving again and that was never fun.

Tess took a breath grabbing her drawstring sack from the floor and slinging it onto her back. She didn't stay in any place for too long, either organization could track you, and honestly she just wanted to be left alone. She glanced up at the bland grey wall in front of her to the shabby apartment she'd been squatting in for a few weeks. With dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and a foggy head from running timelines in her head, Tess got to her feet and headed for the window. She'd take the fire escape, take the back alley, and start moving south through town. She'd take all routes by foot because anything else would leave a trace. Tess pulled her collar to her jacket up around her chin and adjusted her hat down over her eyes and walked, walked with her head down, eyes trained on the cracks in the pavement.

Street lights hung overhead like judging accusers of the life she'd chosen. Tess knew eventually she'd answer for the things she'd done. She knew someday she'd have to come to terms with her choices. She knew that there was not making excuses for any of it…but she wasn't a bad person. She hated that. She hated that there was even a possibility of her turning into the person they had been molding her into, the person she had been letting herself become, the person stuck with no other outcomes. At times it was a lot to swallow.

Tess had been a smart kid. She remembered her father reviewing and reciting the scientific table with her before she went to bed at night, the excitement she'd felt when she'd been able to tell her mother she'd made it into a nursing program, the happiness of graduating college. Her shoe scraped off a cleft in the road as she crossed a street and Tess quickened her pace trying not to stumble. All of that had changed. It had changed so quickly. It was all because of choices she'd made…even if they had been slightly swayed for reasons she couldn't control.

It had been a long long night on clinical in the ER and Tess had really just wanted to take a break. There had been so many drunk college kids in that Saturday night that she thought if she smelled alcohol one more time she'd vomit. As she'd rounded a corner and headed into one of the back rooms to sit for a few minutes and grab some coffee her entire life had changed. Almost no time had gone by when several men had carried a guy quietly into the room shutting the door behind them. They had been dressed in swat gear, army pants, and all clearly had weapons. Tess had dropped her coffee cup and turned to address the men to tell them they couldn't be in this room. She'd found herself face to face with the barrel of a gun. She'd had two choices as they'd laid the guy bleeding on the ground and barked an order at her to treat him...and she wasn't sorry that she'd chosen to live and done what they'd said. She'd then found herself bagged over the head, knocked out, and taken. When she'd come to, she'd been given the choice of life working for HYDRA from that point forward or dying because she'd seen a face she wasn't supposed too. She again chose to live.

Which had led her to where she was in her life now, skulking around in the dark looking for an abandoned place to break into and live for a little while. Staying off the grid is what they'd called it. They all sort of received a little minimal training in the area of supporting yourself, only because they couldn't go and have all of their assets getting killed because they were helpless. Tess rubbed her sleeve under her nose taking a long cold breath in the mid-winter air. Soon snow would be falling but it wasn't yet and she was glad; the longer she could go without using heat in a place she was staying the longer she could go undetected. She glanced up at a street corner and ran her eyes up and down the street quickly scoping out anything that wouldn't be good for her. Just as she was about to take a step to cross the street she noticed it. In the air, above a building just down the street, was a small hovering bird like craft. Shit. It was most definitely watching her. Tess thought about it a moment, the chances were that whoever it was they already had people on the ground to intercept her. They were most likely on both sides of her. She had one option and it wasn't going to be fun. Tess slipped her pack straps off and dropped it on the ground beside her, anything would slow her down right now. She needed just about all the speed she could get. She took her hat off next and let it fall softly onto the pack as well. Her coat was last. Her breath puffed softly in the night air eerily in the street light as she closed her eyes. Clear your mind. That's what they'd always told her. Clear it and go. She balled her hands into fists and bent her legs just enough for a push off. She bolted into the street rather than running on the sidewalks. Cars swerved, horns blared, and chaos erupted.

Steve watched as the kid started taking off her jacket and he used his com link to keep in touch with the others.

"Something isn't right guys…"

"She's going to run. Into the road." Barnes snapped. Everyone on the line could hear him shifting as he started running.

"Stand down Bucky." Natasha said hotly from where she was across the street watching.

"Screw off. If we don't catch her now, we'll lose her! You saw the tapes!"

"I'm engaging too." Steve said. Natasha sighed running a hand down her face. If they didn't need this bitch for some serious information she wouldn't bother.

"Fine. I'm coming." She started jogging but slammed to a halt as the girl moved.

The kid had started glowing a strange color, a mixture between red and violet, like it was tracing through her veins in slow waves under her skin. It looked like Wanda's magic, but she knew it wasn't the same. The girl opened her eyes, they had glowed a vibrant neon lilac, and she'd moved like a lightning bolt. She streaked into the street causing mayhem and violence as cars skidded to a halt, hit each other, and debris flew all over the road. Steve stopped and cussed as he knew he had to attend to the wreckage, Bucky torn between going after the girl and helping Steve…she'd known that she'd distract them. She'd done it on purpose…damnit. The woman was smart. Natasha couldn't keep up with her so there wasn't even a point in trying. They'd have to wait.

"Track her as long as you can Sam." She told Falcon as she headed over to help the guys.

"Trying. She's fast though…." He trailed off.


End file.
